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Beware the Nun....

*I very much want "The CONJURING Universe" to be a "thing," and I will happily shell out this weekend for "Annabelle Comes Home." Here are some things to know:

*The very first "Conjuring" is an exalted film. It features Oscar nominee Vera Farmiga in a tour de force performance. But it also has screen legend Lili Taylor giving a monster-sized performance--grief, terror, hope, etc. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Big-budget movies generally will not give a person like Lili Taylor a chance to shine. There's one exception--and it's the horror genre. If you want to see Vera and Lili sinking their teeth into thick, bloody actor-meat--if you don't want them, say, in a hushed indie drama about how your aging, mildly-deranged parents seem to be your enemies but really they are not your enemies--then you need to turn to horror.

*The "Conjuring" universe gives us a married couple who have devoted their lives to searching for and destroying evil! But that's just the start of the character-feast you get in this universe. You get a crazy Rumanian nun-demon in drag, and he, or she, frequently impales (and eats?) young novitiates. You get an insane Satan-doll, and whenever the doll appears, troubled Phantom-of-the-Opera types tend to lose their legs, or choke on small crucifix necklaces, etc. You get theater legend Elizabeth Reaser as an anguished mom. You get Alfre Woodard! You get Anthony LaPaglia (!), who knows more than he seems to know. And all this is just the beginning.

*"Annabelle Comes Home"--which you may regard as trash--is currently certified as "fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes.

*There's generally a fun "Based on True Events" title card, which delights me. I suppose almost any story could be "linked to true events." In the sense that most stories have struggle, fear, triumph. And these are linked to actual emotions in the world.

*You know where I'll be Friday night! Or Saturday. Help me to make "Annabelle Comes Home" the Oscars juggernaut that it clearly deserves to be....
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